-What is the role of contrition or repentance at the moment of death?
Contrition is very important. The sins are forgiven, in any case, but there remain the consequences of sins. If one wishes to receive a full indulgence at the moment of death -- that means going straight to Heaven -- the soul has to be free from all attachment.
-Here, I would like to share a very significant testimony given by Maria. She was asked to find out about a woman that her relations believed to be lost, because she had led an awful life. Well, she had an accident, she fell from a train and this accident killed her. A soul told Maria that this woman had been saved, saved from Hell, because at the moment of death, she said to God: "You are right to take my life, because in this way I will not longer be able to offend you." And this had erased all her sins.
This example is highly significant, for it shows that a single moment of humility, of repentance at the moment of death, can save us. This doesn't mean that she did not go to Purgatory, but she avoided Hell which she perhaps deserved thought her impiety.
-Maria, I would like to ask you: at the moment of death, is there a time in which the soul still has the chance to turn towards God, even after a sinful life, before entering into eternity -- a time, if you like, between apparent death and real death?
Yes, yes, the Lord gives several minutes to each one, in order to regret his sins and to decide: I accept or I do not accept to go see God. There, we see a film of our lives.
I knew a man who believed in the Church's teachings, but not in eternal life. One day, he fell gravely ill, and slid into a coma. He saw himself in a room with a board on which all his deeds were written, the good and the bad. Then the board disappeared as well as the walls of the room, and it was infinitely beautiful. Then he woke up from his coma and decided to change his life.
-This is very much like the testimonies of "near death experiences"; the experience of the supernatural light is such that people can no longer live afterwards as they had lived before.
Maria, at the moment of death, does God reveal himself with the same intensity to all souls?
Each one is given knowledge of his life and also the suffering to come; but it is not the same for everyone. The intensity of the Lord's revelation depends on each one's life.
-Maria, does the devil have permission to attack us at the moment of death?
Yes, but man also has the grace to resist him, to push him away. So, if man does not want anything to do with him, the devil can do nothing.
-That's good news! When someone knows he is going to die soon, what is for him the best way to get prepared?
To abandon himself totally to the Lord. Offer all his sufferings. Be completely happy in God.
-And what attitude should one have before someone who is going to die? What is the best that one can do for him?
Pray hard! Prepare him for death; one must speak the truth.
Maria Simma to Sister Emmanuel
The amazing secret of the souls in PURGATORY